Citizen Davids vs. Pentagon Goliath
The U.S. Military spends millions of dollars on recruitment, sending helicopter gunships to school parking lots, passing out video war games, maintaining a database of thirty million 16-25 years olds, telephoning kids, offering education, careers, and adventure. Under section 9528 of the "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2002, military recruiters have access to high school student records unless parents sign a form opting out. Parents, however, are often unaware that there even is such a form. And there is also the Junior ROTC program, which targets children as young as 14 and 15 . Some forty percent of children in these programs go on to enlist. Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen (under Clinton) has said "JROTC is one of the best recruiting devices we could have."
Two cities on the North coast of California at Humboldt Bay, Arcata and Eureka, have had enough and have voted to fight back. They passed similar citizen initiatives that prohibit he recruitment of children under 18 years of age. Called the Youth Protection Act the initiative provides that "No person who is employed by or an agent of the United States government shall ...in the execution of his or her job duties, recruit, initiate contact with for the purpose of recruiting, or promote the future enlistment of any person under the age of eighteen into any branch of the United States Armed Forces."
The result: the Pentagon has gone to court in United States of America v. Cities of Arcata and Eureka. The Pentagon claims it has constitutional authority to do what it does. However, the cities have a constitutional claim as well. Under article VI, section 2, any treaty ratified by the U.S. is part of the supreme law of the land. And the U.S. has ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, under which the U.S. has promised not to recruit anyone under the age of eighteen. A hearing is scheduled for June in U.S. District Court in Oakland, California. Stay Tuned.
&mdash Jim Syfers, editor